


Food tastes better when there’s someone to share it with

by cherrylng



Category: Aoi-168-, Ayabie (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humour, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 16:53:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/994272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrylng/pseuds/cherrylng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>”Eating nabemono is no fun if you're eating it by yourself.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Food tastes better when there’s someone to share it with

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel (or prequel?) of the previous story, "Running away? From who? And why?" http://archiveofourown.org/works/973667

Climbing up the flight of stairs to his flat on the first floor, Aoi takes a sigh of relief, free from any work-related issues. At this time, he blocks off any incoming calls from his boss about customers wanting a 'companion' for this unforgiving weather. Like their wives, kids and partners wouldn't suffice, he thought while sneering. Drag an escort in, and they're fucked. Plus, he gets no pay from such fools who fall into trouble. So tonight and tomorrow will be the time for himself.  
  
Even as a frugal man, there are times where he indulges himself. His favourite indulgent is food. Yosenabe will be the answer to a better way to warm his body up. Thinking about it, he  _has_  bought the sufficient ingredients needed for a yosenabe, too bad the Lawsons nearby didn't stock in udon, which is a disappointment.  
  
Thinking about it while unlocking the door, he should have taken a notice of an extra pair of shoes that are  _obviously_  not his to know that someone managed to get into his home. Instead, he has to look up and see someone that he doesn't want to see right now, drinking beer in the living area.  
  
"What are you doing here?!" Aoi exclaimed, his grocery falling off of his hand without notice. Kenzo cocked his head and held up his can of beer in reply.  
  
"Okaeri nasai," he says.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Aoi asks the second time, emphasising each and every word in his sentence.  
  
"Can you close the door? You're letting all that draft in." When Aoi didn't respond, he rolled his eyes and finally answers Aoi's question. "Surprise visit. Now can you close the door?"  
  
“Surprise visit," Aoi repeats what Kenzo just said, closing the door behind him. He had to hark out a harsh laugh to tell how he thinks about Kenzo's 'visit'. "If the surprise comes with sex, then get out of my flat. Tonight and tomorrow's my day off, so I don't want anything to do with pleasing you."  
  
"No sex?" Kenzo, on the contrary, seems bemused by his reaction. "There's more ways to please me than just bodily pleasures."  
  
Aoi simply rolled his eyes, giving up on finding something to fight at him, for now. After taking off his shoes, he took out the groceries and put them on a table nearby. Somehow those actions have peaked Kenzo's interest.  
  
"What's for dinner tonight?"  
  
"What makes you think that I got extra portions for two?" Aoi snubbed back, taking out a portable stove and clay pot from the cupboards. Seeing what Aoi is taking out pretty much confirmed what Kenzo expected the other man to be making for dinner.  
  
"Eating nabemono is no fun if you're eating it by yourself."  
  
"Whoever said that every meal has to be enjoyable?" Aoi gives a glance at him, turning around to pick out the knife and chopping board to prepare to cut the ingredients down to size. Admittedly, he does have enough food to share with Kenzo, but that could have been saved up for the next day as leftovers.  
  
"Says the man with the beef."  
  
Now Kenzo's back to his bastardly ways of telling him of just how rich he is.  
  
"Can you shut it with your metaphors?" Aoi glares at him, chopping down on the chicken meat stronger than he should.  
  
"Can't avoid both a metaphor  _and_  a literal meaning." At that, Kenzo reveals a bag that he has kept close to him and dumps the contents onto the coffee table.  
  
It takes a lot of willpower from what he's seeing to avoid his jaw dropping at what Kenzo brought.  
  
"Is that... wagyu?" he had to ask. Coming from Kenzo, there's always this certainty that he couldn't enjoy really expensive guilty pleasures in his lifetime.  
  
"[Yonezawa beef](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Yonezawa+beef&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RkGYUdz6HqKM0AX2w4GwDA&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=667), to be more precise," Kenzo's smirk is close enough to be better than admitting that he is bragging at a poor man like him. "I also brought some sanuki udon--"  
  
Hearing the word udon was enough to see Aoi snatched the packet of noodles off of his hands and look at the package with goggled eyes.  
  
"From  _this_  restaurant?" He couldn't believe it. From what he heard from that place in Kagawa, they rarely sell their fresh udon as a brand.  
  
"Nothing but the best," Kenzo stands up to take the chance to give Aoi a peck on his cheek. The sight of expensive, high-quality food did not stop him glaring at Kenzo.  
  
Fortunately for Kenzo, he let off the chance of wanting to punch his smug face.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Itadakimasu!" they say before picking up their chopsticks to pick food out of the clay pot. The beef was sliced thinly and left on a plate to be picked up and cooked briefly in the hot broth. Despite what he said earlier, Aoi has to admit to himself that enjoying yosenabe with someone familiar is not a bad idea at all. Eating large portions of food tends to remind him of a loneliness that he has to live with for years ever since--  
  
"Open your mouth," Kenzo says. Aoi blinks, the focus of his sight on the cooked beef before finding its way up to a smiling Kenzo.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Feeding you the first slice," Kenzo says, pushing the slice of beef into Aoi's mouth. "After all, it's your first time trying something this good."  
  
Chewing it, he can feel just how the meat just melts in his mouth, the soft texture that bounces back with a hint of sweetness while chewing. Swallowing it, Aoi knows two things of what he thinks of it: 1) he wants more and 2) he wants to cry at just how  _good_  it was.  
  
"I'm glad you like that," Kenzo smiles before taking his turn to try the yosenabe that Aoi has made himself. After some moments of silence and some gulps of beer, Aoi asks him on how he thinks of it.  
  
"So, what do you think?"  
  
It takes a while before Kenzo comments.  
  
"Not as good as the restaurants make."  
  
Of course a rich bastard like him would say that.  
  
"Then again, I never had homemade food, especially from you. Even with the best restaurants around the world, I am probably more likely want to eat food made by you."  
  
This is where it comes to the point where Aoi halts his thoughts and actions. What is with this warm feeling inside of him? How the hell did Kenzo do that?  
  
Aoi has moments where he hates the knowledge and revelation that there is somebody like Kenzo being capable of doing this to him, with those times also reminding him just how  _far_  out of his league that he is to the other man. This is one of those said moments. This time, though, is the feeling of just how happy he is to spend time with him, despite warnings towards himself that falling in love with this man will hurt him so, so much.  
  
"Kanpai!" he smiles instead, holding his can of beer alongside Kenzo's before drinking it down. Now is not the time to think about certain issues when there is a meal to enjoy at hand.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The clay pot is empty save for what's left of the broth and some stray vegetables and small strings of noodles. Beer cans strew on and around the low table. Picking up the plates and bringing them to the sink to wash, Aoi turns around to take a look of Kenzo. He finds the man already fast asleep on the futon he laid out for him to rest. It is the only futon he owns to sleep in, so either he kicks him out soon, or just share it with him.  
  
A sleeping Kenzo also leaves him more time to ponder on his current state. In an accurate way, Aoi describes himself as inevitably going into a wreck. There was no denial at this stage. He is not in love. Rather, he already loves Kenzo; faults, personality and all.  
  
Even with this happy moment, Aoi knows just how short those nice moments are. They never last long enough to cope with despair. They were simply enough to hurt him on the “could have and should haves”. Maybe that is why Takehito says that he concerns more on the future than his own present state.  
  
He closes the tap and looks down at the sink. Why did he have to be in love when he knows just how much it hurts of  _not_ knowing what can change so suddenly, making him doubt about everything he has prepared so far?  
  
He lies down next to Kenzo, scooting the man a bit further away to have space for himself on what is supposed to be a futon fit for one person. What he gets in return is a pair of arms wrapping around him, a chaste kiss by Kenzo, and a murmur of "good night".  
  
Maybe, Aoi thinks, he should live in the present more often, even if those happy moments will be the reason to a pain he cannot erase.  
  
  
END


End file.
